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Monday, August 17, 2009

Fish Soup

After making the aioli a few nights ago, I had leftovers. What to do? I wanted fries, but the Swedish potatoes are probaly not starchy enough to make good fries yet, and I wasn't sure about a frittata either. I did a shout-out on Twitter, and ended up craving a fish soup.

Fish isn't really my forte, but this one was a true winner. You can mix and match - add more veggies, other types of fish, shellfish... I used what I had, which was a frozen block of cod fillets, and a few slices of cured salmon - gravlax - and those worked very well.

Heat the oil and fry the carrots on high heat in a big pot. Add the tomato purée and continue frying until the carrots are nicely golden. Add fennel and leeks and fry some more. Add the wine and let it bubble vigorously. Lower the heat and add the potatoes, 1 litre of water and bay leaves. Use the remaining water to thin the soup if you feel that you want to. Simmer, covered, until the potatoes are mostly softened. Remove the bay leaves, and at this point, I used an immersion blender to make the soup a little thicker. I didn't purée it, just blitzed for a little while so that some of it broke up and thickened the rest. Use more water if it gets too thick for your liking.

Season the soup with salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar. Add the diced tomatoes, fennel fronds, and the lemon zest. Now, add the fish - the cod at first, and let that simmer for 3-4 minutes. Add the salmon and stir, it'll just take a minute.